Weekly versus biweekly bortezomib given in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis

Background
Bortezomib is recently studied as a novel agent in indolent lymphoma. The optimal schedule of bortezomib used in indolent lymphoma is still uncertain.
Methods
We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical trials comparing the efficacy and toxicity of the weekly and biweekly schedules of bortezomib in patients with indolent lymphoma. We searched Pubmed, Cochrane Library and Emabase from inception to July 29, 2016. The primary outcome was the overall response rate including the complete response rate and the partial response rate. The secondary outcomes were the proportions of patients in each group experiencing the adverse events including the neutropathy, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea and neutropenia.
Findings
After final screening, six trials were considered eligible for analysis. The results showed that the overall response rate of biweekly schedule was higher than that of weekly schedule in indolent lymphoma (OR 1.691;95%CI 1.02–2.80). Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the two schedules of bortezomib for the main adverse events.
Interpretation
The biweekly schedule of bortezomib was more effective than the weekly schedule in indolent lymphoma, with similar proportion of toxicities.